Member Junkers {not so} Anonymous

Last week, when we had a conversation with one of our friends and customers at the Mineola Antique Fair. Their family has come 4 shows in a row and even came twice last weekend (and they won two of the door prizes being given away.) 

As they were leaving they said "we'll be back next month, it's like Junker's Anonymous... We have fun and can't stay away!" 

Junker's Anonymous... It immediately hit me that it had to be a graphic and most likely it's a new shirt in the works! 

Are you a member of the 

Junker's {not so} Anonymous Club?

You know, we can't keep it a secret that we have junk everywhere...the back of our trucks, yard, storage sheds, house... we love junk and we aren't afraid to show off what we do with it! 

We aren't really anonymous at all!! 

Whatya think? Should it be on the back of a shirt????????

It's Time for the Mineola Antique Fair!

It's almost time for the Mineola Antique Fair July Show, so I thought we should share some of the things that Angea from Rooster Tails and I will have available. You can find us at the fair Friday and Saturday - July 13-14 from 9:00-5:00 at 115 Lankford St. in downtown Mineola, Texas. (Located right behind the Sonic off Hwy 80 or just a couple blocks from the train depot on Hwy 69.)

Before we opened last month, I was trying to figure out how we could make signs with our business names on them and some way to hang things from the building rafters. Jeff used his ingenuity and created hangers that hook over the rafters easily and we can hang things from them! Love that creative man of mine! Still we needed signs that could be seen across the building...I've had the large heart with wings hanging in my yard for a while, and decided to paint GypsyFarmGirl on it. Then I decided that I would make Angea a Rooster Tails sign. I free-handed this chicken weather vane and cut it out of tin (very similar to the image she has on her business cards.) I love how it turned out, other than when the light hits it a certain way, you can't see all the letters. 

Angea's got a vintage bicycle and I found this cute tricycle recently. Aren't they a cute pair?

 We went on a fabulous junk pickin' trip a few weeks ago and we love this chippy metal cabinet. It's one of those things I hate to give up, but I don't really have a place for it at home.

 The chippy cabinet is setting on top of a vintage metal bar cart. Enamel pans, a kettle, vintage tin ceiling tiles... we loved that load of junk we found!

 Speaking of finding things - I was cleaning a closet a few weeks ago and what I thought was a tub of lace was actually a bunch of vintage quilts! I guess it pays to clean after all ;)

 Pretty in Pink - Some of our vintage farmhouse finds.

 You might have noticed we have lots of glass jars. Let me add that they are very reasonably priced and would be perfect for storing items in your home, gifts, messages in a bottle, herb tonics / tinctures, etc. A couple remind me of the jars my Grandmama always put the peanut brittle and peppermint patties in at Christmas time! If you saw the square jar with a lid on the counter, you knew she had been making treats!

 While we love summer, we are starting to dream about fall pumpkins and scarecrows.

 Need vintage door knobs? We've got some!

We've still got to take another load of items to add back to our booth before we open up on Friday. The following pictures were taken at the last show. I bring home the clothes, tin signs, tumbler wraps and other items that are in my etsy shop and take back each time. (It's about 30 miles from my house and the building is only open occasionally, so I can't leave all my online inventory over there.)

Most of these clothing items pictured below is listed in my etsy shop, so I can ship them and the tin signs almost anywhere, if you're unable to make it to the show in Mineola. For all of you who can't make it, there is FREE Shipping on Clothing right now! If there's something else you see in our pictures that you are interested in and can't find it in my online store - please send us a message (email/facebook/etsy/instagram) and if it's able to be shipped, we will be happy to send it to you! 

In fact, if time permits, Angea and I might even go Live on Facebook to have a preview and sale from the fair, giving everyone an opportunity to shop, no matter where you are located! 

Vintage Queen! 

Welcome Y'all mason jar tin signs. Display on your door, add to a wreath, on a wall, on the porch, etc.

Denim and lace vest / kimono - the lace is from a vintage wedding dress!

Hay Y'all!

In Rust We Trust - Live Love Junk

Reminder - the sale is the Second Friday and Saturday of the month. Although, if your passing through at other times of the month and see the doors open, you'll find some vendors working and you can do some shopping. Some of our stuff is there all month, while I do bring home some of it, including anything that's in my online shop. Make sense? I hear there's a food truck that's suppose to be there, someone with fried pies, and several new vendors will make their debut this month.

The Mineola Rodeo is also happening this week or you can stop by the nearby Mineola Nature Preserve (click here to see my blog post about our recent visit to the preserve.) There's lots of other fun shops to visit in Mineola or the Lake Country Playhouse and Historic Select Theater is a good place to take in a movie (and the vintage style billboard sign out there is photo worthy and one that I need to photograph.)

Hope you can come out and see us! Please introduce yourself if you are a follower, because I would love to meet you in person and thank you for being a part of this journey!

Sustainability in our Home and Business

April is designated at Earth Month and April 22 as Earth Day. Within our business and our personal home, we make many efforts to reuse and recycle items to be more sustainable. I recently listened to an Etsy Success Podcast about sustainability factors and how customers like environmental friendly shops and it made me think about things that we personally do to recycle and conserve resources.

For the love of junk. Reuse, Repurpose, Rescue... One of my favorite sayings and t-shirts from Suzy Swede.  

Things we do to reduce our environmental footprint:

• We work from home eliminating the need to commute daily.
• We coordinate our trips to get supplies, groceries, appointments, post office, etc. We never drive to town just to eat out. (In fact, we cook almost all our meals at home.)
• When leaving home, we always carry on own drinks. Personally, I've used the same stainless steel tumbler for two years! I'm lost without it. Occasionally, I do stop and get a drink if my travels take me out longer than expected and my cup runs dry. If we know we will be gone a while, we will both fill a thermos with additional water, tea, or coffee. 

Decorative tumbler wraps available in my shop. 

• We often carry a "grub bag," as Jeff calls it, when leaving home. Of course its a recycled container with an assortment of fruit, nuts, pretzels, etc instead of stopping at the store for a bag of chips or candy bar.
• We recycle barn tin for signs and my photo booth and many other projects. Most of the tin has been rescued and salvaged from my Granddaddy's old hay barn.

• We used only reclaimed items for flower containers in our yard. (see this post, including a video, demonstrating  how-to plant in rusty bottomless buckets.)
• Our gazebo was rescued from a trash ditch and all of the containers and chairs are second hand. Yes, really! The only thing store bought are the lights, hummingbird feeder, and some of the plants.  (Spring 2018 garden tour coming soon!)

• Almost all of the furniture in our house in second hand. (Only the kitchen table was purchased new and I regret doing that.)
• My camper is a 1959 model and almost everything in it is second hand. The exception being the 3/4 mattress, sheets, and a string of lights. 

• We search the thrift stores and estate / garage sales for vintage lace, clothing, and anything we can repurpose. Some of the lace in the wedding bouquets is vintage or second hand. 

• We upcycle and repurpose clothing. Some of my favorite outfits cost less than $5 and they are usually the ones that get the most compliments! 

(The Vintage Queen Collection is coming soon and will feature vintage lace and upcycled clothing, among other things. The fabric for the mocha satin roses in the bridal bouquet was cut from a bridesmaid dress. Also, vintage jewelry / brooches are included in the arrangement.)

  

Did you know:

According to the EPA, American discard approximately 13.1 million tons of textiles a year and only about 15 percent of that is reclaimed for recycling. This means that more than 11 million tons of textiles are dumped into landfills across the country each year. 

Keeping textiles out of landfills would save more than $375 million per year in fees alone. ($44/ ton to dispose of waste.)

Source 

We do our part to help eliminate part of the textile waste!  

Have I mentioned I love rust? (Currently in our Uniques and Antiques booth.)

• If possible, we recycle packing materials such as the air bubbles, paper, peanuts, and bubble wrap. If the packaging is clean and in good shape in boxes we get in, we reuse the packing on orders going out. Several family members will also save their air packs for us. If I come across a box of vintage patterns, I'll use the tissue patterns for wrapping wedding bouquets and pillows, instead of new tissue paper. You would be surprised how many old patterns have never been cut and you can find extra large pieces of tissue in them. 
• Most days, my mail carrier picks up my packages at home, saving me a trip to town and about 25 miles round trip. So thankful for my rural mail carrier and honestly sad she will be retiring this summer! 
• Many times, we use recycled glass vases or other containers for flower arrangements. (I will not sacrifice quality - they must be in good, clean condition or I won't use it.)
• Cans, scrap metal, and batteries are saved to take to a salvage yard.
• We monitor our electricity usage. Jeff is great about watching the sun and opening or closing blinds and doors at certain times of the day to either let the sun in on cold days or keep it out on the hot days. We try to run the clothes dryer at times when the house needs heating up (late night / early morning and avoid the middle of the day in the summer time.) I can honestly say our electric bill has gone down in the last few years, while many complain about higher bills. 
• We hand wash all our dishes. Its much quicker and doesn't use as much water as the dishwasher.
• We have 6 reusable grocery sacks. On top of saving plastic bags, they make it so much easier to tote groceries in the house.  Seriously, no slinking grocery sacks spilling out in the back seat or the pickle jar falling through the flimsy sack and busting on the ground. We usually grocery shop once a week and hit the farm supply store and check on all the farm animals on the same trip. 
• When I do get plastic sacks from stores, I save them up and take them to our favorite thrift store, so they can be reused or line garbage cans at home. 
• I've used newspaper underneath mulch, instead of black plastic in flower beds. 
• Food containers are often reused as paint trays. Just because it says cottage cheese or yogurt on the outside, many times it paint or stain on the inside! 
• We prefer glass jars to plastic for food storage.
• We have a small toaster oven - the best $1 ever spent at a garage sale! Cooking for two, it is perfect for us and many times we avoid turning on the "big oven". Our microwave went out 2 1/2 years ago and we've yet to replace or miss it and we honestly feel healthier without it! 

While I know there are still things we can improve upon, I feel like we do pretty well. We do discuss adding solar panels on future improvements. Jeff and I are constantly asking each other "what can we do with this?"

What are some of the sustainable things you do in your home or business?  

Christmas in the Gazebo

Grab a cup of coffee and pull up a chair for a tour of our gazebo decorated for Christmas!

Once again, everything is rustic, rescued, and repurposed. 

The decor took on a very natural / garden / flea market style theme this year. 

If you have a few minutes, you can watch my video, as I show you around the gazebo or you can scroll down to see more pictures. I attempted to do a live Facebook video, but the lighting just didn't work out correctly. Wish I could have chatted with everyone as I was videoing...

 

 I used objects that were all found or taken from nature. I gathered pine, cedar, twigs, berries, and pine cones from the farm. I trimmed limbs that stuck out in the paths (as in nearly scratch the truck as you drove through the gates) and added them to a artificial tree and adorned many other objects with the fresh greens. After Christmas, I'll add all the branches to the compost bin.

A twiggy tree top! Instead of glittery ting and branches like some use, I preferred to use sticks and berries for a nature theme. 

 After we got the gazebo, I purchased 3 bushes in small, one gallon containers (because I was on an extreme budget.)  It's hard to believe just how big those little bushes have grown! The bicycle used to sit way out in front of them - now the bush grows through the bike. The lily that is in front of the bike was gifted to me by my mail lady. 

Now for a few daylight pictures, so you can see some different details.

When I was delivering Thanksgiving flowers, one of my sweet friends gifted me some fresh grapevine they had trimmed from their yard. I decided to hang it on the door and then nestled in the Christmas tin sign.

I found this candle stand while out junkin' recently and decided it would go on the gazebo for the time being. 

I loved this metal scroll work fixture for a long time and decided to hang it up this summer. 

For the Birds...

Now, if you recall, last year I had an upside down Christmas tree hanging where that rustic fixture is now and I had a cardinal the would stay in the tree every night. (click the link to read about it.) The red bird family went on to raise babies in the bush beside the gazebo. That's their little nest tucked in the Christmas tree! I've had the red burlap birds for several years and decided they should go on this years tree.

The handy hauler has a load of fresh Christmas greens and berries.

The bottomless rusty bucket - it still has the original flower pot wired inside it from when I did the how to post several years ago. There's still some herbs left in the pot from this summer and I just added the cut branches into the potting soil. 

My rusty, junky wreath from years past returned again and graces the front of the bicycle.

So there you have a tour of our rustic gazebo. 

What is your favorite part? 

P.S. Stay tuned, as I plan to share another video and details from my glamper Christmas! 

10 Random Thoughts and Pictures

It's been a busy week on the go and I thought this was going to be a quite week! So hears a few scenes from the week

1. Sunset from the farm on Friday night - If you look close, one lone cow can be seen through the smoke settling over the pasture from a nearby property. 

2. Leaves are changing colors and falling fast. 

3. Cow silhouettes at sunset are one of my favorite things and those big ears!

3. Not so favorite thing - being wet and cold. Granted, I am very thankful for rain, I just don't like cold rain and getting soaked or having to wear too many layers to move and still being chilled to the bone. #readyforspring 

4. Daylight savings time... I'll gladly give up an hours sleep to spring forward again. All the clocks in the house haven't been changed yet.

5. I begged Jeff to drive one day, so I could do some hand sewing for a bouquet. #multitasking

6. These 2... sharing lunch at the DQ! We made the big loop Friday to the farm, shipping cattle, lunch at Dairy Queen, then went on to restock our Uniques and Antiques booth, then back home again. I "work from home" although I drove about 150-175 miles yesterday for work...

If you read my blog post from a few weeks ago, you'll know Trixie loves DQ and yes, she insisted upon going yet again! 

7. I packed up orders, including this bouquet, then headed off to the post office and skated in there with 3 minutes to spare - crazy Friday afternoon traffic in a small town... geez Loiuse! I could not deal with big city traffic.

8. Turquoise Shiny Brites... all the heart eyes! If I had room to put up a big tree in the house, these would not be available in our Uniques and Antiques booth. 

9. Santa Flannels arrived in our booth yesterday! One sweet customer bought a flannel before I ever got it hung up and several more of our rustic Christmas decorations. P.S. If you are reading this... Thanks Again, it was so nice to talk with you!

10. I officially became a coffee drinker this week! I ran out of orange juice before we could get back to the grocery store and Jeff made me some coffee. I doctored it up a little bit and I think I'm going to be hooked! My tumbler has been filled with coffee on several of our cold trips this week... pssstt,  there are new yeti style cup wraps in my shop.

Hope you had a great week!